Champions rarely do. But the mostly dismal form of McLaren during winter test sessions has forced the young Briton’s new boss, Martin Whitmarsh, to concede that his cars are highly unlikely to be at the front of the grid for the start of the season-opening Australian Grand Prix next Sunday.
“We do not yet have the technical package that will allow our drivers to fight at the front,” said Whitmarsh, who replaced Ron Dennis as McLaren’s team principal at the start of the month. “In Formula One there is nowhere to hide: that’s what makes our sport so demanding and yet so endlessly fascinating.”
Unlike his main rivals, Kimi Raikkonen, Felipe Massa, Fernando Alonso and Robert Kubica, Hamilton has never driven a poor Formula One car.
For Hamilton to climb into a car at the start of a weekend knowing that it has little chance of carrying him to a podium position will be a novel and unwelcome experience.
But Whitmarsh, who has known the 24-year-old since he was a child, is aware of the depth of character of his driver, and is confident that he has the determination to prevail.
“It has been extraordinary to watch Lewis maturing into a man and a champion,” Whitmarsh said. “There is a depth of humanity there that is quite remarkable. Some drivers are nasty bastards, quite impervious to what is going on around them. Lewis is less impervious, but he has been battle-hardened like no other driver of his age.”
Whitmarsh remains upbeat and confident in the ability of his engineers and his drivers to get McLaren back to the front. “I’d like Lewis Hamilton to be world champion during my watch,” he said. “We begin our season with huge determination to reassert ourselves at the front and we will not rest for a moment until we have done that. Most importantly, we haven’t forgotten how to win.”
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